Indonesia's new healthcare scheme facing bumpy road

THE architect of Indonesia's new universal healthcare service, which began a phased introduction last month, says that a lack of funding and a poor grasp of benefits are hampering patient care.

On Wednesday, the first monthly review of Indonesia's ambitious Social Security Organising Body, or BJPS, turned up cases of inferior treatment compared with what existed under previous health schemes. The findings underscore the difficult road that officials here face as they roll out medical coverage for all of the country's 247 million people by 2019, says Hasbullah Thabrany, the body's senior adviser and professor of health policy from the University of Indonesia.

"The first two years of this programme will be a bumpy road," says Prof Thabrany, who headed the review. He says that the programme is aiming for 70 per cent satisfaction among patients during the first year. "Doctors, staff and patients don't understand the system."